Fabulous Progress In The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

We saw a lot of fanfare last week as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to talk about cranking up a new peace process – because with Barack Obama in the White House all this stuff should be easy. Right?

It doesn’t look like Abbas got the message. He just went home and scuttled the whole shooting match.

In interview with ‘Al-Quds’, PA president says Palestinians won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state, accuses Netanyahu of trying to “strip” Israeli-Arabs of their rights.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s talk about an “historic compromise” and said there would be no compromises on core issues such as Jerusalem and borders.

Abbas also reiterated his rejection of Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “We’re not talking about a Jewish state and we won’t talk about one,” Abbas said in an interview with the semi-official Al-Quds newspaper. “For us, there is the state of Israel and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state.”

Abbas said that in recent meetings with leaders of the Jewish community in the US, he made it clear that the Palestinians would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state. “I told them that this is their business and that they are free to call themselves whatever they want,” Abbas said. “But [I told them] you can’t expect us to accept this.”

That’s a bit discouraging, no? Last week, we were given all kinds of indications that because a new gang in the White House would be running things a deal was in the works. Unless that deal involves Netanyahu giving up the store, which is a little like expecting Mike Tyson to ride around Las Vegas on a tricycle with a dress on, we’re not going to see much movement.

In fact, it would not be a surprise, based on past history when American administrations attempt to push the two sides into making a deal, to see a flareup in suicide bombings and other terrorism in the Holy Land. The Law of Unintended Consequences has generally not treated this president well.